Young James Stewart

Wednesday marks the birth anniversary of James Stewart, who was born on May 20, 1908. TCM are celebrating the day with several of his movies, but they're the better-known movies that Stewart made later in his career, after he became a big star. If you want to see a much younger Stewart, you'll have to tune in tomorrow, for Speed, at 8:00 AM ET.

In the movie, Stewart plays a man trapped on a runaway bus that's been wired to explode if it goes slower than 50 MPH. Wait a minute; that's a different Speed. The James Stewart version is a movie that's got a plot about as original as Dirigible. Stewart plays a test driver for a race car manufacturer, who's constantly at odds with the firm's engineer. Worse, they both fall in love with the same woman, who works in the firms public relations department (played by Una Merkel). Original, isn't it? But, it was one of Stewart's earliest starting roles, having been released all the way back in 1936.

Unfortunately, Speed doesn't seem to be available on DVD. If you want to see a young James Stewart without waiting for TCM to show the movie, look for a movie Wife vs. Secretary, in which Stewart plays the boyfriend of the title secretary, Jean Harlow. Wow, there's a relationship! The wife is played by Myrna Loy, and her husband by Clark Gable, making this the only movie with both Stewart and Gable in the cast (not counting archive footage). Or, you can see Stewart play a suspect in a murder case in After the Thin Man, also with Loy.